Sandro Tonali's agent responds to fresh FA charge as £52m Newcastle United star faces five months out

Sandro Tonali’s representatives claim the Newcastle United midfielder wants to put a ‘definitive end’ to a ‘painful’ period in his life following a fresh charge from the Football Association.

Tonali is currently serving a 10-month betting ban issued by the Italian Football Federation which is due to end on August 27, 2024. Last week, the Italian was charged for allegedly breaching FA betting rules 50 times following his £52million arrival from AC Milan last summer.

He has until Friday to respond to the charge though any potential further punishment is likely to be served concurrently with his existing ban which prevents him from playing in competitive or friendly matches for club or country.

Tonali has complied with the relevant investigations and, according to his representatives GR Sports, voluntarily co-operated with the FA after self-reporting his offences.

GR Sports’ statement read: “It should be noted, in relation to the reports in the English and Italian press, that the ongoing investigation is a due act after Newcastle player Sandro Tonali, decided in October 2023 to self-report to the FA, as he had previously done with the FIGC, in order to clarify his position regarding the betting he had carried out at a time prior to the start of the proceedings in Italy. “We are therefore not talking about anything new but simply about recurring facts before the Italian disqualification, which the player voluntarily wanted to bring to light even to the English Federation to put a definitive end to a negative and very painful parenthesis of his life”. “Sandro Tonali will continue to fully cooperate with the FA as he did with the FIGC and do everything possible to ensure that these proceedings can be resolved as quickly as possible.”

Tonali made 12 appearances for Newcastle prior to his ban being in place, scoring on his Premier League debut for the club in a 5-1 win over Aston Villa. He is able to keep training with Eddie Howe’s first team but still has just under five months left on his current ban which ends on August 27, 2024.

While Tonali can’t play in any official matches, Newcastle can organise training ground games behind closed doors for the player to feature in.